# Qwen3.6 Flash vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 38.4 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/qwen3-6-flash-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Qwen3.6 Flash leads 28.4 to 21.2.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.19 / $1.13 for Qwen3.6 Flash.
- Qwen3.6 Flash accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 256K.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Alibaba (Qwen) | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 38.4 | 41.7 |
| Rank | 176 | 116 |
| Context | 1M | 256K |
| Input $/M | $0.19 | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | $1.13 | $0.30 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Qwen3.6 Flash: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 41.7 (#106)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | — | 1436 |
| ALE-Bench | 326.4 | — |

## Reasoning

- Qwen3.6 Flash: 28.4 (#90)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 21.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| SimpleBench | 35.2% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| Chess Puzzles | 20% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1411 |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 18% | — |
| DTBench | 77.1% | — |
| LMCA | 31% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 143.26 | — |

## Math

- Qwen3.6 Flash: 38.0 (#88)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 40.6 (#77)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 22.5% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 84.4% | — |
| LMArena Math | — | 1408 |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 10.3% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | 0% | — |

## Knowledge

- Qwen3.6 Flash: 42.2 (#90)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.0 (#127)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 83.3% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 15.9% | — |
| LMArena Expert | — | 1422 |

## Multilingual

- Qwen3.6 Flash: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.7 (#115)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1386 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1448 |
| LMArena French | — | 1421 |
| LMArena German | — | 1404 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1353 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1350 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Qwen3.6 Flash: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.3 (#119)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1385 |

## Long Context

- Qwen3.6 Flash: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#112)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Qwen3.6 Flash: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 59.0 (#108)

| Benchmark | Qwen3.6 Flash | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | — | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1405 |

## FAQ

### Is Qwen3.6 Flash better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 38.4 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Flash or Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Qwen3.6 Flash lists at $0.19 and $1.13.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.6 Flash does, with 1M tokens against 256K.

### How many benchmarks do Qwen3.6 Flash and Step 3.5 Flash share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Qwen3.6 Flash has 13 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.